Bone Daddies Ramen Bar review

Ramen is making a come back splash in London. After Tonkotsu, we sample out the latest in Soho ramen scene, Bone Daddies. Opened last year, each of our visit to Ross Shonhan's newest noodle bar continues to stun our palette. Alongside Tonkotsu at nearby Dean Street and Shoryu on lower Regent Street, Bone Daddies is the ramen joint to visit in London.

With all the rage of tonkotsu-style ramen, perhaps the biggest surprise with Bone Daddies is the T22 chicken ramen. The soy-based ramen, which is made up of a bowl of delicious chicken bone broth, slices of chicken and out of this world cock scratchings. Now, there is something about these cock scratchings that get to me each time I visit. It destroys everything else on their menu. Utterly delicious and brilliant. And the soft boiled Clarence Court eggs? Mind blowing. This deadly combination? A snip at £9.

Chicken ramen for the enlightened soul

Still, if you are here for some tonkotsu ramen, then you won't find yourself disappointed. Tonkotsu is created after boiling bone marrow for 20 hours, resulting in a deliciously cloudy and heart attack inducing (everything in moderation) pork broth that is one of the best I've tasted in London yet. No cock scratchings with the tonkotsu, but you can have them as extra.

The starters, with the exception of the soft shell crab, are a little uninspired so if you are a little hungry, ask for extra ramen noodles instead. With the exception of the poor beer selections, the drink menu on the other hand is rather extensive - including oodles of sake, Japanese whiskey and sake-based cocktails. The Maiken-Me, a combination of shochu sake, ume shu and watermelon laced with salt is one such fine example of what you can do with sake.

If there is a disappointment with Bone Daddies, it is how popular it is with Soho hipster crowd. Expect queues from the moment they open up for business. One hour queues are not unusual during peak weekend hours (it doesn't help that you can't book). The small premise is also hardly the most comfortable, with tall stools dominating the venue. Fortunately turnover is quite quick, particularly during lunch.

London's affordable noodle scene is evolving rapidly - and not only with Japanese ramen, but Vietnamese Pho and Chinese la-mian. We haven't had it this good. Here's to a more mature London noodle scene in 2013.

8/10

Bone Daddies Ramen Bar
31 Peter Street
Soho W1F 0AR
London
Tube: Piccadilly Circus